Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

kramersteen said:
Yeah it works a treat i have used it many times.

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Thankyou! Know any good brands/types I should look for or things I should watch out for?

Also did you have to do anything to the rose wood like sand it or clean it thorughly, and how easily did it come off the frets?
 
Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

DeathMetalWill said:
Thankyou! Know any good brands/types I should look for or things I should watch out for?

Also did you have to do anything to the rose wood like sand it or clean it thorughly, and how easily did it come off the frets?
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It just wipes off the frets. I used that fiebiengs ''non correct spelling'' dye. Clean it up as much as you can without scratching it, I also used a type of nut opil when i did mine in addition to the dye and it made it sink in better.

Either way it's easy.
 
Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

I used it once and made something of a mess, though I did eventually get a good result. I've heard of others having an easier go at it.
 
Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

I'd be interested to see a 'before' picture.
 
Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

I could be wrong but based on the price of the high quality, dark ebony, I suspect that most of the really dark looking ebony fingerboards that are seen on more affordable guitars is probably dyed anyway. So, if dying the rosewood actually works and it's what you want, why not.
 
Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

Yes, some guitars come from the factory with the fingerboards dyed to darken them and/or just to even out the color.

Has anyone tried the Higgins ink that Stewmac sells for this? I have some but haven't used it yet and I'm thinking the leather dye might be less messy or just plain easier?
 
Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

I would probably not color the board at all, but if I were really intent on doing that, I would certainly use a product intended for that purpose. Go with the Stew-Mac.

Bill
 
Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

Y'all think this might hurt binding?

My Epi's board could stand being a tad darker since the body is all black.

Sent from my HTC Desire 626 using Tapatalk
 
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Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

I ebonize some of my guitars fretboards. My American Standard Strat in my avatar has ebonized rosewood. I just use ebony wood stain that you can get from your local hardware store. I put on a few applications and let the stain dry right in. The fretboard looks great now.



;>)/
 
Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

I've used Fiebing's to dye several fret boards (and a pair of shoes, go figure) It works great, it doesn't "stick to" inlays or metal. It WILL stick to wood, skin, carpet, small children, anything porous! The last time I used it, my 3-year old grabbed it and spilled it all over, it took MONTHS for the dye to wear off my hand, to say nothing of the carpeting...:bigeyes:
I dyed THIS

and I didn't mask off the maple part of the neck well enough, and it took a LOT of sanding to get rid of the "bleed line". Use GOOD tape-I used cheap masking tape the first time, and it bled thru in a bunch of places. The 2nd time I used automotive pinstripe tape (vinyl, I think) and that worked perfect. That fretboard is now BLACK, with just 2-3 applications.
 
Re: Ebonize Fretboard With Leatherdye?

kramersteen said:
It just wipes off the frets. I used that fiebiengs ''non correct spelling'' dye. Clean it up as much as you can without scratching it, I also used a type of nut opil when i did mine in addition to the dye and it made it sink in better.

Either way it's easy.
Click to expand...

Nut oil? What kind? You treated the wood afterward, or you added the oil to the dye itself when you applied it?
 
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